'Mr. Bean' has secured itself a loyal fan base all over the world, spawning not only two film spin-offs but a cartoon series as well. If it makes people happy, that's fine by me but personally I do not like the show at all. It is childish and banal to the point that whenever I try to tune in, I feel my concentration wandering after about two minutes. I find it a great chore to sit through.
Rowan Atkinson plays the title character, a man who never speaks coherently, cannot touch anything without breaking it and whose habits and ways set him some distance from normality. Whilst I liked Atkinson in shows such as 'Not The Nine O'Clock News', 'Blackadder' and 'The Thin Blue Line', I don't feel he is terribly good at working without dialogue. He just comes across as gormless and emotionless. It is like watching someone who is mentally retarded.
One of my biggest bugbears about the show is the fact that people label it as silent comedy. Bean is the only one who doesn't talk, everyone else, however, does, unlike in the later and far superior series 'The Baldy Man' ( which starred Gregor Fisher ), where no dialogue was used at all. The latter, incidentally, was slated by the critics who claimed that it was nothing but a cheap rip-off of 'Mr. Bean'. Whilst it is true that the series of 'The Baldy Man' came after 'Mr. Bean', it must be noted that the character of Baldy was created on 'Naked Video' in 1986, a good four years before this show started. Also, in 'The Baldy Man', Baldy only reacted to situations, 'Mr. Bean' however was responsible for them, so oft-repeated comparisons between the two shows are largely unfair.
I would be lying if I were to deny the show's popularity but I just could not take to the show at all. If you ever manage to come across 'The Baldy Man', tune into that instead. Trust me, it is funnier by miles.
Rowan Atkinson plays the title character, a man who never speaks coherently, cannot touch anything without breaking it and whose habits and ways set him some distance from normality. Whilst I liked Atkinson in shows such as 'Not The Nine O'Clock News', 'Blackadder' and 'The Thin Blue Line', I don't feel he is terribly good at working without dialogue. He just comes across as gormless and emotionless. It is like watching someone who is mentally retarded.
One of my biggest bugbears about the show is the fact that people label it as silent comedy. Bean is the only one who doesn't talk, everyone else, however, does, unlike in the later and far superior series 'The Baldy Man' ( which starred Gregor Fisher ), where no dialogue was used at all. The latter, incidentally, was slated by the critics who claimed that it was nothing but a cheap rip-off of 'Mr. Bean'. Whilst it is true that the series of 'The Baldy Man' came after 'Mr. Bean', it must be noted that the character of Baldy was created on 'Naked Video' in 1986, a good four years before this show started. Also, in 'The Baldy Man', Baldy only reacted to situations, 'Mr. Bean' however was responsible for them, so oft-repeated comparisons between the two shows are largely unfair.
I would be lying if I were to deny the show's popularity but I just could not take to the show at all. If you ever manage to come across 'The Baldy Man', tune into that instead. Trust me, it is funnier by miles.